For more than 25 years, Ginalisa Monterroso worked for nursing homes, maximizing the amount of money they got paid for their services. Hospitals and nursing homes get paid more if customers pay directly for services than if Medicaid pays. Monterroso’s job was to exhaust a customer’s personal money before using Medicaid benefits. The truth is that people, even if they have money in the bank and a home, may be entitled to Medicaid benefits.

Monterroso grew so frustrated watching people deplete their life savings when another option was available that she set up a consulting practice, Medicaid Advisory Group.which helps people get the benefits that they are entitled to.

When you think nuts and bolts, you probably don’t think innovation. Not so for Jewel Burks, co-founder and CEO of Partpic. She managed customer service for a parts distributor and dealt with the calls from frustrated customers who had been sent the wrong part or couldn’t identify the part they needed because the product name or number was partially rubbed off.

Again and again, customers asked if they could send a photo of the part so the distributor could match it. The last straw was when Burks’ grandfather, a farmer in Alabama, had to delay harvest because a part for his tractor broke, and together they had trouble identifying and replacing it. There had to be a better way, she thought.

When you think nuts and bolts, you probably don’t think innovation. Not so for Jewel Burks, co-founder and CEO of Partpic. She managed customer service for a parts distributor and dealt with the calls from frustrated customers who had been sent the wrong part or couldn’t identify the part they needed because the product name or number was partially rubbed off.

Again and again, customers asked if they could send a photo of the part so the distributor could match it. The last straw was when Burks’ grandfather, a farmer in Alabama, had to delay harvest because a part for his tractor broke, and together they had trouble identifying and replacing it. There had to be a better way, she thought.

Like many other entrepreneurs, Miki Agrawal starts companies based on her needs and the needs of those she cares about. When she sees an unmet need, she fills it.

In 2005, when her twin sister, Radha, had one of those embarrassing moments during a three-legged race at a family barbecue — she got her period and soiled her bathing suit — Miki and Radha had an “aha” moment. With all the innovation in the world, there had to be a better way.

Miki’s second “aha” moment happened when she asked a school-aged girl in South Africa why she wasn’t in school. The girl’s response: “It’s my week of shame.” The girl had tried rags, leaves, mattress filling, and mud, but nothing worked. So, once a month for a week, she stayed home from school, just like 100 million other girls in developing countries around the world.

Two women have taken on the task of connecting high-return Israeli tech start-ups with the angel funding they need to take off. It’s been a challenge, despite the track record of such companies.

Angel investors are beating out venture capitalists when it comes to Israeli tech companies. Between January 2011 and July 2014, nearly half of the most profitable investor exits were funded exclusively by angels, according to iAngels, an equity crowdfunding platform. Although angels invested smaller amounts of money than VCs, they reaped the high rewards that VCs crave: 10 to 30 times returns. They also did it in three years or less which is far faster than the five to seven years for U.S. companies reported by CB Insights, a data company that tracks investments in private companies.